2018-07-11 16:12:42 | Fly Intel: Wall Street's top stories for WednesdayThe relative calm on the trade front that had contributed to gains over the last few sessions ended when the U.S Trade Representative released a list of $200B in Chinese imports that may become subject to 10% tariffs. While China does not import enough from the U.S. to respond dollar-for-dollar to this threat, The Wall Street Journal quoted sources in China as saying that the country is reviewing plans to retaliate in other ways, such as holding up licenses for U.S. firms, delaying approval of mergers and acquisitions involving U.S. companies and ramping up inspections of American products. Meanwhile, President Trump talked tough with, and about, U.S. allies while he attended the NATO summit meeting in Brussels, all of which added up to stocks having a down day. ECONOMIC EVENTS: In the U.S., the Producer Prices Index report revealed stronger than expected gains, with the headline and core index rising 0.3% in June compared to the prior month. The year-over-year gain in the headline index at 3.4% was the strongest since November 2011, while the core index's yearly rise of 2.8% was its strongest since September 2011. The U.S. wholesale report soundly beat estimates for sales and inventories, with a 2.5% May sales surge and a 0.6% rise in inventories. COMPANY NEWS: After speaking with U.S. President Donald Trump, Pfizer (PFE) said it will roll back its July 1 price increases "to give the president an opportunity to work on his blueprint to strengthen the healthcare system and provide more access for patients." Additionally, the company announced that it will reorganize into three units, separating its consumer healthcare business, which the drugmaker has been trying to sell since last year, from its groups focused on "innovative" medicines" and "established" medicines... Meanwhile, Celgene (CELG) released a statement on its recent 5% increases on Revlimid and Pomalyst, saying it is "limiting pricing actions for any of our medicines to no more than the rate of anticipated U.S. health care spending growth and only once per year, with rare exceptions for significant changes in therapeutic value." Celgene added that no further pricing actions for these or any of its other FDA-approved medicines are anticipated this year... 21st Century Fox (FOXA) raised its bid to purchase the rest of Sky (SKYAY) that it does not already own to GBP14 per share, or $32.5B. This tops Comcast's (CMCSA) latest bid for Sky, though The Wall Street Journal and CNBC both reported that Comcast is expected to raise its Sky offer in response. Depending on how the auction for Sky plays out, Comcast could decide to focus its efforts there and drop its pursuit of a broad set of Fox assets, which are currently in the process of being sold to Disney (DIS), the Journal added, citing a source. MAJOR MOVERS: Among the noteworthy gainers was Nexstar (NXST), which rose 4% after Reuters reported that Apollo Global (APO) approached the company to express buyout interest. Also higher was ResTORbio (TORC), which jumped 11% after it reported that in a Phase 2a trial TORC1 inhibitor treatment was associated with a clinically meaningful reduction in the incidence of infections in people aged 65 years and older. Among the notable losers was American Airlines (AAL), which dropped 8% after the company cut its total revenue per available seat mile guidance for the second quarter. Peers Delta (DAL), JetBlue (JBLU), and United Continental (UAL) also slipped by 1% to 3% during the session. INDEXES: The Dow fell 219.21, or 0.88%, to 24,700.45, the Nasdaq lost 42.59, or 0.55%, to 7,716.61, and the S&P 500 declined 19.82, or 0.71%, to 2,774.02. | |
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